This is the eighteenth chapter of
an ongoing series. I want to thank all the readers who have written to
me concerning this story. I continue to be surprised and pleased by all
the responses this story has prompted.

All your comments are read and given
serious consideration. Thank you for your encouragement, suggestions and
criticism. This is the most serious series I have attempted and many readers
have told me it is the most challenging and most issue-oriented story they
have encountered on NIFTY or any other similar site. I have difficulty
believing that's true. There are many fine individual stories and series
being contributed by excellent writers. In any case, I certainly am grateful
for the kind opinion of readers and hope I can continue to meet your expectations.

Since the last chapter was posted
I received word that Absolute Convergence has received the Gay Writers
Guild award for the best new story of 2002. This is a real honor and I
want to give special thanks to Mark Steven who nominated the story, as
well as to the Guild for their recognition

My objective in this series is to
deal with issues which have impacted and influenced the lives of gay people
in the period between the 1960s and the present time, or from pre-Stonewall
days to the era of "don't ask, don't tell."

Many readers have asked if this story
is, at least in part, autobiographical. I would not be honest if I said
it was not. But I want to make it clear to readers that I am not Rob or
Rick or any other specific character in the story and none of them, individually,
is me. The story is raising many more questions than it is supplying answers
and I certainly make no claim to know the answers. It is my hope that by
raising the questions I may prompt more consideration of the issues facing
gay people in the USA and throughout the world.

Andrew continues to provide much
needed proofing and editorial help, for which I am sincerely grateful.
He has continued to be of great help. As our exchanges of drafts
and more personal messages have gone on, I have come to regard him as a
very close and very dear friend.

This is a work of fiction and in
no way draws on the lives of any specific person or persons.Any similarity to actual persons
or events is entirely coincidental. This is a work of gay erotic fiction.
If you should not be reading such material, or if such material is not
to your liking, please exit now.

All the stories I have posted on
NIFTY can be found by looking under my name in the NIFTY Prolific Authors
lists.

If you wish to receive e-mail notification
of subsequent postings, please let me know by sending your request to the
e-mail address below.

jvoyager@hotmail.com

We kept our promise. It was well over a year before I was alone
with Rick again.

On Friday, the day after we'd said our private good-byes, Rick and I,
along with Danny Carter, went out to cut the trees and other greenery which
were being used to decorate the church for the wedding. Actually, I made
a point of picking up Danny first in one of the trucks from dad's lumber
room. That way he was sitting in the center, between Rick and me, as we
drove out to Mr. Cantrell's property on Highway D. A couple of the other
guys met us there to help so the work went quickly. We cut about two dozen
sapling trees, averaging from ten to fifteen feet tall, along with a lot
of additional greenery. When it was loaded on the truck and tied down we
took it all back into town and met Debbie and Joyce and several other girls
from our class at the church.
The girls had prepared cans in which the cut ends of the tree trunks
were placed. The trees were then bound to the ends of every third pew and
the cans filled with gravel and water and covered with fabric. Other trees
were erected in the same way on either side of the altar and at the ends
of the choir stalls.

The girls had made bows from old salvaged fabric. These were hung in
the green boughs of the trees. The effect was dramatic and festive and
the decorations had cost nothing more then a little fuel for the truck,
which dad willingly provided, and the time we all contributed.

Rick's family finally laid aside their irritation and planned an informal
dinner on Friday night. Their house was too small for the numbers involved
and in the end, the party took place at a pavilion in the city park. Everyone
involved in the wedding was invited, including my folks and Joyce's folks,
because our mothers were doing so much to prepare for the reception after
the wedding. It was an informal affair but Rick and Debbie were so relieved
that, at least for the time being, ill will had ended that nothing else
mattered.

Joyce and I ended up eating at a table with our parents and there was
a lot of joking about what Rick and Deb would be doing the next night.
I was embarrassed by the comments, especially those made by my own father,
but managed to remain silent and keep my own thoughts to myself. More than
once I caught Joyce looking at me and I knew she shared my frustration.

On Saturday I picked up Joyce, as we'd arranged, and drove her to the
church, arriving at nine o'clock as we'd been told to do. Rick arrived
a few minutes later with his brothers and father. His mother and sisters
and grandparents were waiting in a small room near the back of the church.

As we waited for the service to start I was able to speak to Rick and
wish him well. As he and I were talking I noticed how his father was looking
around the church with a very critical expression on his face. I'm sure
the high interior or Trinity, with its dark recesses out of sight in the
intricate trusses overhead were very different from the low ceiling space
where he regularly attended church services. He no doubt thought the architectural
grandeur of Trinity was excessive, even to the point of obscene waste.
Beyond a nod of greeting, there was no communication between Mr. Carlson
and me. In any case, he left us soon enough to join Deb and her mother.

We didn't see Debbie before the beginning of the ceremony but when she
entered on her father's arm she looked beautiful and joyful.

The music, performed by our regular organist and students from our high
school class was truly splendid. Their services had been offered at no
charge, which was very helpful, considering the non-existent budget for
the entire event.

It was clear as the ceremony began that Ted Tucker had a very significant
role. It was Dr. Walker who led Rick and Deb in their vows but apart from
that, Ted was really in charge, clearly at the Rector's invitation and
with his blessing.

I realized as the old prayer book service progressed how powerful the
language and the liturgy could be. It had a solemnity and grace which gave
the ceremony a sense of heightened importance. It was a milestone in the
lives of two people, but also an event which involved the entire community.

That was exactly the point which Ted focused on in his homily. He only
spoke for a few minutes but it was a wonderful and powerful presentation,
all the more powerful because it was directed first to Rick and Deb, and
then, in its conclusion, to the entire congregation.

"Marriage is a civil contract," Ted said, "but it is also a Sacramental
Rite of the Church. We see it as a voluntary union between two people but
one which they do not, in human terms, have the capacity to maintain. It
is only with God's involvement in the joined lives of these two people,
this young man and this young woman, that there is hope for the survival
and success of this marriage.

"The world conspires against the success of marriages. Human nature
conspires against the success of marriages. It is only God's nature, and
his nature is love, which can make the vows these two young people make
today a reality in their lives and in the life of this community.

"We admonish them to put all past things behind them as they start this
new life together. That means putting old ties, old bonds and affections
behind them. Scripture tells us that they are to abandon father and mother;
they are to walk away from all hindrances which would weaken their new
union, their new state.

"We must also admonish ourselves as their families and friends that
we must support them in this new union. As they take their vows we must
take our own vow, which is this, that we will do everything in our power
to support and nurture them and that we will do nothing which would in
any way hinder them in their resolve."

As I thought about the language of the service and the words of Ted's
homily it struck me that a major theme of the wedding, and I guess of all
weddings, although I'd never seen it that way before, was to demonstrate
the community's acknowledgement and support for the marriage. It really
was a civil contract as well as a religoius rite, as Ted had said, not
just between the couple, but between them and their peers. The community
was acknowledging that it was a sanctioned union and everyone had better
do all they could to uphold it and nothing which would harm it. If
the couple later had children the community was acknowledging them as the
legal offspring of the union.

I wondered if I'd ever be the beneficiary of such a ceremony. I wondered
if two men or two women would ever be afforded equal acknowledgement by
society. Now, looking back from the perspective of thirty years, I find
myself still asking those questions.

The entire service went off without the slightest hitch and by the time
the bride and groom made their exit down the central aisle, under the spreading
boughs of the green trees, there were few dry eyes in the church.

The reception actually turned out to be a lot of fun. The wedding party
was delayed a few minutes so photographs could be taken in the church.
When we all entered to the parish hall where the reception was held, I
was reminded of the grand entry we'd made to our homecoming dance the previous
autumn. We were suddenly surrounded by loving and supportive family and
friends and any plans for a formal receiving line were quickly abandoned.
Instead, Rick and Deb and their families just gathered on one side of the
big room and everyone took their turn coming over to visit and to congratulate
the bride and groom.

The refreshments were a real success, which pleased my mother and Mrs.
Lynn. There were also a lot of comments on the decorations. Everyone was
very complimentary and the entire affair was a real triumph, especially
considering that there had been no real budget for anything.

When it was time for Rick and Deb to leave it was my duty as best man
to drive them to Joyce's house where they'd left the car they were driving
on to Memphis. Debbie tossed her bouquet of wildflowers and it was caught
by one of Rick's cousins. Then suddenly we were off. Joyce came with me,
sitting in the front seat as I drove. Rick and Deb were seated in the back
and we made our departure amid a shower of rice.

There was an awkward moment at the Lynn's house when Rick asked me to
come with him to the bedroom where he was changing into casual cloths.
Deb had gone on up and Joyce and Rick and I were standing just inside the
front door.

"Oh, yeah, I guess not," Rick said, looking from me to Joyce. He bounded
up the stairs alone and Joyce and I went on in to the living room to wait.

"What was that all about," Joyce said as soon as she and I were alone.
"Do you really want to know?"

"Probably not," she said and then put her arms round me and gave me
a kiss.

A few minutes later Rick came down wearing jeans and a sports shirt
and carrying a small bag.

"Deb's almost ready," he said and the three of us stood there looking
awkwardly at one another. Fortunately, Deb did come down quite soon and
we all went to the garage where their car had been locked away for safe
keeping. It was already loaded with as many of their things as they could
carry.

Joyce and I gave both Deb and Rick hugs and got them into the car.
"I will be sending you and Deb a wedding present later," I told Rick, "but
slip this in your pocked now. It's a small memento just for you."
He smiled and nodded as he took it. As they drove away Joyce and
I stood there watching the car heading north on Elm Street, toward their
new shared life.

"Do you want to stay a while," Joyce said softly.

"No thanks. I think I'll go home and lie down. After the last few days
I'm really tired," I said. It was true; I really did feel suddenly exhausted.

The rest of June crept by. I was working at the lumber yard for dad
and spending my evenings reading through a long list of books assigned
for an honors lit class I would be taking in the fall. By the end of each
day I was physically and mentally worn out.

My brother Ted got home from the university just before the Fourth of
July. Dad had arranged for the entire family to use a friend's cabin down
near Holly Bluff for the holiday period. The Fourth was on Thursday so
we left on Wednesday afternoon. Our parents didn't come back to Spring
River until the following Sunday evening but on Thursday after breakfast,
Ted and I drove back into town to get Betty and Joyce, who came out for
the day.

The time Ted and I spent in the car driving into town was the first
chance we'd had for a private conversation and he immediately began asking
questions about Joyce and me. How was our relationship going? Was I okay
being at Oxford when she'd be on the East Coast? Did we intend to continue
going steady even though we'd be separated by so great a distance?

His questions seemed endless. He was pressing for more information than
I wanted to give and I was being reticent in a way that was making him
even more insistent.

"I'm not trying to be nosey, Rob," he said as we crossed the railroad
tracks on the edge of town. If fact, I felt he was being very nosey. "You
know Betty and I plan to get married as soon as we finish our degrees."

"Yeah, Ted," I said, "I know that's what you're planning."

"Well, I can't help being a little curious about you and Joyce. Hell,
you are my brother. I just wonder if you think she's the one, or if you
two will go your separate ways now that you're heading for different universities."

"The truth is, Ted, I don't know... we don't know."

Once we pulled up in front of Betty's house the conversation ended but
I felt sure Ted would be asking the same questions the next time we were
alone.

I got out and climbed into the back seat so Betty could sit in front
with Ted. We pulled on around to Joyce's and I scurried in to get her.
It took a minute or two to say hello to her folks and assure them that
we'd have her back late that evening. On the way to the car I was able
to let her know that Ted had been giving me the third degree.

"Oh goody," she grinned. "Can we give them a show?"

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Just pull me toward you once we're in the car. From there on we'll
wing it."

Ted said a friendly hello but Betty greeted Joyce with her usual obsequiousness,
every word dripping with effusive southern charm. It occurred to me for
the first time that Betty saw Joyce as a future sister-in-law and was doing
everything she could to build a firm foundation for their future relationship.
God help us, I thought.

We climbed into the spacious back seat and I immediately put my arm
around Joyce's shoulder and pulled her toward me. She gave a great sigh
and melted into my arms.

Joyce's sigh was loud enough to cause Betty to look back at us just
as Ted's eyes darted up to the rear view mirror. They both smiled at our
affection and Betty said, "My goodness, but you two love birds don't waste
any time."

"I haven't seen Rob for three days," Joyce intoned. "Your cruel father
has kept him working every minute."
With that she put her hand behind my neck and drew my lips down to
hers. As our embrace continued Joyce slipped back so that within a minute
or so she was more or less lying across the width of the seat. She pulled
me with her so I was lying over her, our bodies pressed together and our
lips locked in a prolonged kiss. The seat was wide and those were the days
before seat belts, so there were few obstacles to our passion.

"Um," she purred, still in a whisper loud enough to be heard from the
front seat. "I've certainly missed you.

"Um," I echoed.

"You certainly missed me, too," Joyce continued, her purr now mixed
with a giggle and leaving little doubt about her meaning. In fact, I found
to my surprise that my body was responding to hers.

This last exchange was followed by knowing chuckles for the front seat.

They may have thought it was funny but I was embarrassed as hell. I
rolled a little to my left so I was no longer fully on Joyce, but it that
new position she was pressed between me and the back of the rear seat,
a situation which really wasn't any better.

"You kids okay?" Ted asked, looking back at us.

"Umm, yeah, fine," I managed to say between Joyce's insistent kisses.

After about ten confusing minutes Joyce released me and tried to sit
up. I moved a little and we both rose from the seat to straighten our very
rumpled clothes and for her to repair her lipstick, the only makeup she
usually wore.

"You'd better wipe off your own face," she grinned, handing me a tissue
and the small mirror from her purse.

By the time we got back to the cabin, our folks had prepared a picnic
lunch which we ate out in the big screened porch.

After we'd eaten and rested for a while we changed and went down to
the little lake below the cabin to swim. Ted and Betty swam across to the
opposite shore and went back into the woods, quickly disappearing from
sight.

"It looks like we're left alone again," Joyce said, looking back toward
the cabin. My mother was standing on the porch and Joyce waved to her.
"Well, almost alone."

"Do you want to swim?" I said, walking out onto a little wooden dock.

"Let's just relax here a little and see how long your brother and Betty
stay out of sight."

"Curious?"

"Yes," She said, "not about what they're doing, but just to see how
long they think they can be back in the woods before your parents object."

"I don't think my parents would object," I said. "Ted and Betty have
made it clear they intend to get married as soon as they finish their degrees.
They aren't officially engaged yet or anything, but just making it known
that they expect to get married gives them a kind of license."